Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest position in the executive branch of the United States, after the President. The executive power of both the vice president and the president is granted under Article Two, Section One of the Constitution. The vice president is indirectly elected, together with the president, to a four-year term of office by the people of the United States through the Electoral College. The vice president is the first person in the presidential line of succession, and would normally ascend to the presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. This had been established by statute, based on the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, until ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, which specifies the vice president as the successor to the president, and establishes the procedure for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. The vice president is also president of the United States Senate and in that capacity only votes when it is necessary to break a tie. Additionally, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the vice president presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College. Thanks to a number of changes in the nomination and election processes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, there have been more vice presidents (48) than presidents (45) in OTL. While John Adams served two consecutive terms under George Washington (1789-1797), this pattern would not be re-established until the 20th century. Conversely, George Clinton and John C. Calhoun each served under two separate presidents, although neither completed their second term (Clinton died, Calhoun became the first VP to resign). Seven vice presidents have predeceased their respective presidents. Nine ascended to the presidency. Only two, Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller, have been appointed under the Twenty-fifth Amendment. This article lists the known vice presidents found in the works of Harry Turtledove after the Point of Divergence in alternate history, or known vice presidents found in works of science fiction. Vice presidents who served before the POD of a given alternate history that are mentioned in passing do not need to be listed here. Stories set in OTL may reference past vice presidents, or even the sitting vice president, but unless the individual's role is specifically fictionalized within the story, they do not belong here. ''The Guns of the South Southern Victory Worldwar Only two Vice Presidents were identified in Worldwar: * Henry Wallace (Democratic) served under President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1941 until his death in a bombing raid in 1944. * Harold Stassen (Republican) served under President Earl Warren from 1961 until his ascension to the presidency in 1965. Other Vice Presidents John C. Breckinridge is the incumbent lame-duck VP for part of "Lee at the Alamo," and is referenced obliquely. In addition to his above roles, Hannibal Hamlin is Vice President at the start of "Must and Shall," and is elevated to the office of President in 1864 when Abraham Lincoln is killed at Fort Stevens. None of his successors in either office are identified. Calvin Coolidge plays a background role as President in the State of Jefferson Stories, implicitly having succeeded from the Vice-Presidency as in OTL, some years after the relevant POD. John Nance Garner appears in ''Joe Steele, both the novel and the short story, where he is elected to six terms as VP under President Joe Steele before ascending to the presidency himself in 1953. In The War That Came Early, Garner is presumably VP throughout Franklin D. Roosevelt's first two terms, and is anonymously addressed by FDR in a scene in The Big Switch. There is no clue to who served as VP in FDR's third term. In addition to his role in Worldwar, above, Henry Wallace plays an important role in "News From the Front", publicly breaking with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the prosecution of World War II, and is probably on the verge of ascending to the presidency when Congress begins the process of impeaching Roosevelt at the end of the story. In addition to his above appearances, Harry Truman also appears in The Man With the Iron Heart and The Hot War as President. Alben Barkley is the incumbent Vice President in The Hot War until he is killed by an atomic bomb in May 1952. The office remains vacant until the series ends on January 1, 1953. Richard Nixon is referenced in "Hindsight" as the incumbent Vice President. He plays a background role as President in the State of Jefferson Stories; implicitly he held the Vice-Presidency before this, as the relevant POD does not seem to have affected either office. Hubert Humphrey is referenced as the incumbent Vice President in "The Fillmore Shoggoth". Michael Bennet appears in "Election Day" as VP-elect on November 8, 2016. In Supervolcano: All Fall Down, set in a post-2010 "near future," an unnamed Vice President makes a brief appearance. This person shares a few characteristics with Joe Biden, who held the office at the time of publication. In Alpha and Omega, set in a post-2019 "near future," an unnamed Vice President appears, and is not described in any detail. Historical Vice Presidents in Non-Vice Presidential Roles John Adams, the first Vice President in OTL, is briefly referenced in ''The Two Georges'' as having had some importance in the North American Union's history. There is no office equivalent to VP in that work. Andrew Johnson appears in "Must and Shall" in his OTL role as Military Governor of Tennessee. Whether he ever became VP is unrevealed. In The Guns of the South, Johnson runs for VP on the Radical Republican ticket in 1864, but loses. Theodore Roosevelt is a major character in Southern Victory, where he is elected President for two full terms of his own, rather than starting out as an "accidental President" as in OTL. It is unrevealed whether he was VP before he became President. Calvin Coolidge, a VP who became an "accidental President" in OTL, appears in American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold as Governor of Massachusetts. He is elected President but dies before taking that office. He did not serve as VP in the Southern Victory timeline. Henry Wallace has a background role in Settling Accounts: Return Engagement as Secretary of the Interior, but has not been VP by the time Southern Victory ends. Richard Nixon has small roles in ''The Two Georges'' (as a used steamer salesman), Colonization: Second Contact (as a Congressman), Settling Accounts: The Grapple (as a soldier), ''Joe Steele'' (as an Assistant Attorney General), and The Hot War: Armistice as a Senator, but it is never suggested that he became VP in any of those timelines. Hubert Humphrey appears in The Man With the Iron Heart as the Mayor of Minneapolis, and is referenced obliquely in American Empire: The Victorious Opposition as a pharmacist; both timelines end before he has had a chance to seek higher office. Humphrey is also referenced directly in Colonization: Down to Earth as a candidate for President, but it is never suggested that he ever became VP in that timeline. In The Hot War: Fallout, Humphrey is a U.S. Senator, and is killed during the course of World War III in May 1952. George H. W. Bush is obliquely referenced in the satire "Bedfellows" as someone whom the main characters are on their way to meet. None of his political offices are referenced. As the story is a mildly surreal satire, taking the plot literally is not the best approach to the material. See Also *President of the United States, the highest elected position in the United States. *Vice President of the Confederate States, the parallel office in the Confederate States. Category:Titles * * Category:United States Congress Category:United States Presidency Category:The Guns of the South Category:Southern Victory Category:Worldwar